A biggie bites the dust

[rbtree]

Pat, who has worked for and with me for quite some time, has his own biz now, Westside Tree Care. He needs me, my crew and chipper for some of his jobs. The job entailed removing a cottonwood with a maple growing nearly together and two more maples. These were normal sized trees, 24-30" dbh and 60-110 feet tall. The tree pictured in these images was ~42" dbh and 140 feet tall, with a secondary trunk of ~20" which grew up and out, thus totally weighted to the side. Challenging removal, with a cedar understory, plus a fence, sprinkler line and shed for obstacles. Oh, and the septic drain field on the side away from the fence. We did the job Tuesday and Wednesday in good weather. My computer was acting up....couldnt get the images downloaded for ages. Doubt I slept more than two hours Wed nite. Then, Thursday was ugly wet. Yesterday nice. Rain here was snow in the mountains, even at Crystals base. I'm still tired, but am leaving to ski Crystal for today and maybe tomorrow in a few minutes. Should be some heavy powder to ski (chowder) before the sun comes out, which is supposed to be happening later, with tomorrow looking nice and warmer!

 

 

We lowered a wickedly huge top..and the video is rather impressive!

Pat's going back to finish the last 50-60 feet of big wood this morning. I gave him several ideas on how to get the rounds off. Since I don't have one of Reg's "Block Drivers", I didn't include the best option.

 

Edit, I wrote the above on the TH, a couple days after we did the job on May 8... Today is the 24th and I'm going skiing again at some time this weekend. Left my skis at Crystal to be tuned. Gotta go get them, make a few turns, as I'm going to Mt Hood on June 22, my way of celebrating my 65th birthday!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2014 by rbtree

[rbtree]

I woke up at 3 am.... after hitting the sack way early for a change, and finally go to editing the cottonwood footage. Enjoy! Watch on Youtube in HD and full screen of course!

 

[jomoco]

Kinda sketchy Rog!

 

Why no speed line? Why?

 

That was frustratingly turrible to watch!

 

Too macho for me!

 

Ski safe Bro!

 

Jomoco

[rbtree]

The site wasn't right for speed lining, John. Gave it some thought, but we had the cedar and other foliage in the way, plus the loads would be been rather heavy for the anchor (right where the climber was, pretty much), and created risky side loading. Would have needed a control line. Zipping right towards Pat's truck, using it for a Z-rig anchor, could have worked, but that would have placed the brush 100 feet from the chipper, which was fixed where it was.

 

Not sure what you meant by "Turrible" Yes, a couple times, the mid tied leads hung up. Sometimes, it's just not possible to get a proper high tie point to keep the load butt heavy. Butt tying them would have been better. There were some awkward angles for Pat to deal with.... he did well enough, that's for sure.

[wicklamulla]

climber wears his helmet back to front ! good video.

[MattyF]

I hate poplars ! Good work.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

[forest tink]

nice jeans I have to say

[Paul Cleaver]

on the last pic, the climber looks like he has been infected with an "arboreal burrowing snake"

[Ty Korrigan]

That grey rigging cord looks like it's taken a bite from a saw just at the point where the rope crosses itself.

Nice bare chest, nice jeans, all very pro...

Ty

[MrPaul]

That grey rigging cord looks like it's taken a bite from a saw just at the point where the rope crosses itself.

Nice bare chest, nice jeans, all very pro...

Ty